the party had at various times and places
separated, some going here and some there; but all eventually
left the country, and the company died a natural death. But Mr.
McLean is not only a firm believer in the mineral wealth of the
North, but in its resources otherwise. There are extensive areas
of large timber, and the lakes swarm with fish. The soil on the
Liard River is excellent, and he tells me that not only wheat but
Indian corn will ripen there, as he himself grew both successfully
when in charge of that district.

The mining enterprises referred to fell through, but I have described
them at some length since they are very interesting as being the
first attempts at prospecting with a view to development in those
remote regions. Failure, of course, at such a distance from transport
and supplies, was inevitable. But some of the prospectors, Captain
Hall and others who came out with ourselves, seemed to have no doubt
that much of the country they explored is rich in minerals. Indeed,
should the ancient repute of the Coppermine River be justified by
exploration, perhaps the most extensive lodes on the continent
will yet be discovered there.

If the Hudson's Bay route were developed, a short line of rail from
the western end of Chesterfield Inlet would tap the mining regions
prospected, and develop many great resources at present dormant. The
very moss of the Barren Lands may yet prove to be of value, and be
shipped to England as a fertilizer. I have been told by a gentleman
who has travelled in Alaska that an enterprising American there is
preparing to collect and ship moss to Oregon, where it will be
fermented and used as a fertilizer in the dairy industry.

To return to Lake Athabasca. It seemed at one time to have been the
rallying-place of the great Tine or Dene race, to which, with the
exception of the Crees, the Loucheaux, perhaps, and the Esquimaux,
all the Indians of the entire country belong. It is said to have
been a traditional and central point, such as Onondaga Lake was to
the Iroquois.

It is noticeable that, in the nomenclature of the various Indians of
the continent, the names by which they were known amongst themselves
generally meant men, "original men," or people; e.g., the Lenni
Lenape of the Delawares, with its equivalent, the Anishinape of the
Saulteaux, and the Naheowuk of the Crees. It is also the meaning of
the word Dene, the generic name of a race as widely sundered, if not
as widely s